Table tennis: Lessons for the dragon slayer Patrick Franziska – Sport

He had believed in it a bit before, but after that ball against Ma Long, which they call the dragon, it was clear that this could be a perfect day for a little table tennis miracle. Already at the beginning of that match a few weeks ago in Budapest, the invincible man made some untypical mistakes on the other side of the net, but then Patrick Franziska had the set point to take a 2-1 lead. Ma Long’s ball dripped almost inaccessibly from the edge of the net onto the edge of the plate, it was almost on the floor when Franziska caught it – and then lobbed it so precisely to the other side of the table that the 40-millimeter plastic ball just didn’t bounce on it anymore table, but rolled over the surface unbeatably for Ma Long. Not even in training could he remember such a lucky shot, Franziska said later. Sometimes it works.

With this experience – he actually defeated Ma Long, the multiple world champion and Olympic champion – Franziska, 29, Bundesliga player at 1. FC Saarbrücken, would have traveled in principle to the European Championships in Munich. However, he arrived there late and without preparation. And in the meantime a completely different major event was buzzing around in his head: a week ago his first child, Tyler, was born, the reason for Franziska’s delay.

He’s stopped counting the days he’s not at the table. Eight? Nine?

Two of his three medal chances were gone before he arrived, first for him personally – and then also for the German Table Tennis Association, which increased the pressure on the whole team for the individual. First, Franziska’s mixed partner Petrissa Solja had to cancel the European Championship injured, but they had big plans after their unfortunate exit in the Olympic quarterfinals in Tokyo when they missed seven match points against the Japanese Ito/Mizutani, said Franziska. And then he also had to worry about his doubles partner Timo Boll, whose start had been open for a long time due to a broken rib in June. In the end, the co-favorites actually canceled their doubles participation, but not because of Boll’s rib, but because Tyler was taking too much time.

He was then curious himself, he said after his opening win on Wednesday: how it would feel, how quickly he would find his feeling, his rhythm – and if at all. He arrived the night before, had little sleep lately, but enjoyed cuddling the little one. He’s stopped counting the days he’s not been at the table. Eight? Nine? All Germans survived the first main round, including Franziska after a tricky start. And on the day off after that? He hardly trained again. “I thought that’s no use now.”

“You have to beat a German to become European champion,” says Benedikt Duda

Each of the five German men started the individual with a backpack of doubts that he had to put down first – even though four of them are among the top 15 in the world. For Dang Qiu and Benedikt Duda it was the negative experiences from doubles and mixed. Timo Boll took a long break because of a broken rib. Dimitrij Ovtcharov also competed after two ankle surgeries and an infection with little competition practice. He still lacks the self-image to go into such a tournament with the conviction that he will win it, said the ninth in the world rankings. You have to work your way up point by point, believe in your own strength. Also with the help of the audience.

After the second main round on Friday, the self-image of the DTTB quintet sounded a bit more through. After Duda had taken revenge on the Austrian Daniel Habesohn 4: 3 for dropping out in doubles the day before, the Bergneustadt native regretted that he was already meeting his doubles partner Qiu in the round of 16 in the afternoon, much too early, but that’s the way it is : “You have to beat a German to become European champion or to win a medal.” In the end, Qiu saved his chance, in 4:1 sets.

Timo Boll then disenchanted the spectacular Slovakian Wang Yang, about whom he had previously said he was “one of the best defenders when he’s hot” – which Boll managed to prevent. Ovtcharov bit through 4:3 in an exciting seven-set thriller against the Portuguese Marcos Freitas. For Franziska, on the other hand, it was no longer enough in the evening. With 2:4 he was eliminated against Tiago Apolonia.

Only one player outside of China has managed to defeat the Chinese Big Three – Franziska

Boll now meets Qiu in the quarter-finals, so a German medal is certain – and the women went even further in the evening: Sabine Winter, Nina Mittelham and Shan Xiaona all made it into the semi-finals.

Patrick Franziska knew beforehand that he couldn’t buy anything from his win against Ma Long, especially not at this European Championship. It was just a quarter-final win at a World Cup tournament, even if he had never won a set against Ma before and such a win was more difficult than “against Rafael Nadal on clay”. But what the live commentator had claimed in the stream from Budapest, he then had it researched again. And yes, it seems that there is indeed only one player outside of China who has ever managed to defeat the three most successful Chinese players in recent table tennis history, Fan Zhendong, Xu Xin and Ma Long, the big three. And this one is called neither Boll nor Ovtcharov – his name is Patrick Franziska. Even if it didn’t quite make it into the top ten, which is always his dream, he can look back on it later with pride.

And there were a few things he was able to take away from his victory: his passive play had never been so good, many extra shifts would have paid off. Which he just didn’t have recently.

At least the missed doubles competition went reasonably forgiving from Franziska’s point of view. Because the Swedish duo Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson won. Karlsson, who played for Düsseldorf for a long time in the Bundesliga, even played next to Franziska at the table in rounds two and three, both fighting shoulder to shoulder to progress. A curious coincidence – because Kristian Karlsson is Tyler’s uncle, Franziska is married to his sister Frida. So the double title stayed in the family.